Insert blower. On or off ?

[Sully]

I have the osburn 2400. I've always ran it with the blower on ,does good job of heating.
I've been reading post and see not everyone likes a blower. How many insert owners choose not to use blower and what are some observations?I have a ceiling fan in this room and that does a good job of moving air. This morning I decided to turn blower off and have noticed it hold temp much much longer with out the blower on has not been long enough to see how well it heats with out use of blower though. I will report back on that later.

 

[tinman1]

I have the osburn 2400. I've always ran it with the blower on ,does good job of heating.
I've been reading post and see not everyone likes a blower. How many insert owners choose not to use blower and what are some observations?I have a ceiling fan in this room and that does a good job of moving air. This morning I decided to turn blower off and have noticed it hold temp much much longer with out the blower on has not been long enough to see how well it heats with out use of blower though. I will report back on that later.

I have a osburn 1800 insert &noticed that with the fan off,
yes the box stays hotter longer , but the room needs the fan on in order to heat up, but that may be due to my high cathedral ceilings.

 

[velvetfoot]

I'm a little leary of pushing my insert during a power outage because, maybe, surrounding stuff could get too hot.

 

[Bmore]

I have the osburn 2400. I've always ran it with the blower on ,does good job of heating.
I've been reading post and see not everyone likes a blower. How many insert owners choose not to use blower and what are some observations?I have a ceiling fan in this room and that does a good job of moving air. This morning I decided to turn blower off and have noticed it hold temp much much longer with out the blower on has not been long enough to see how well it heats with out use of blower though. I will report back on that later.

My Buck 91 does not through off much heat without the blower. It would heat the room, but heats the home with blower. Ran it hot one time without the blower and melted the fan speed control box... For me, fan stays on

 

[mellow]

Not all inserts are designed to be run without the fan on, most will dictate in the user manual the fan must be on or overheating could happen.

 

[AnalogKid]

I have my blower switched to 'auto', with the fan turned all the way to the lowest speed setting, and just leave it.

I let the stove dictate when it thinks it needs to come on and when to turn off and I never touch it. Load every 9-12hrs. Works lovely.

 

[etiger2007]

I have the 2000 and for my set up the blower needs to be on high to heat the house. I've played with leaving it off and yes it does stay hotter longer but the rest of the house doesn't get the heat. i still get 4-5 of good heat off a load and have to refill every six hours .

 

[bsruther]

The best thing I ever got for my insert was a fan speed controller. Liked it so much that I removed it from that stove when I sold it and put it on my current stove.
The lowest speed is whisper quiet and medium gives a slight breeze of hot air. I don't use the blower very often, but if I didn't have a controller I probably wouldn't use it at all.

 

[velvetfoot]

The best thing I ever got for my insert was a fan speed controller. Liked it so much that I removed it from that stove when I sold it and put it on my current stove.
The lowest speed is whisper quiet and medium gives a slight breeze of hot air. I don't use the blower very often, but if I didn't have a controller I probably wouldn't use it at all.

May I as which one you got? My old Quad's was infinitely adjustable. The current Hampton is two speed: low is pleasant, but high is loud (but kicks out the heat). It'd be nice to have something in between once in a while.

 

[mellow]

I always have my blower on if the snapdisk has it on. I do have a speed controller on it like the previous poster mentioned.

I use this: http://www.harborfreight.com/router-speed-control-43060.html

 

[bsruther]

May I as which one you got? My old Quad's was infinitely adjustable. The current Hampton is two speed: low is pleasant, but high is loud (but kicks out the heat). It'd be nice to have something in between once in a while.

No idea which one it is. I picked it up at Lowe's or HD. They can usually be found near the ceiling fans. Mine isn't infinite. Just 3 speeds, but it's all I need.

 

[mellow]

The thing you gotta look out for in controllers is the amperage it can handle, some of the rinky dinky ones for lights are a low amperage and will burn up if used on an insert fan.

 

[rwhite]

I have an osburn 1800 and I run it with the blower on. I think some people make the mistake of trying to make it a forced air furnace. I have found it works best on a very slow quiet speed. Just enough to keep air moving.

 

[Bmore]

The thing you gotta look out for in controllers is the amperage it can handle, some of the rinky dinky ones for lights are a low amperage and will burn up if used on an insert fan.

What amperage does a insert fan use? I found mine online for $17 that was 120v 2.5 amps. Working great for now...

 

[mellow]

Mine uses around 1.5 amps at 100 watts at full speed.

http://www.doityourself.com/forum/l...ust-fans/342656-using-dimmer-fan-control.html

 

[Sully]

It seems to work better with blower on. I don't like the high setting though so Im just going to stick to the low setting Keep it warming

 

[OhioBurner©]

Only time my blower isn't full on high is when I am sitting by it watching a movie or if I'm letting the coals burn down below 350 and don't want to cool the unit too much.

I don't understand not running a blower (besides my scenarios above). The object is to heat your room right? Who cares about the firebox temp as long as it stays warm enough to burn correctly. The heat exchanger works by air flow, and the greater the flow and temperature difference the better it works. Some inserts it might not make as big of difference if they throw off a lot of radiant heat, mine is flush and without the blower the room is not going to stay warm.

 

[mellow]

One thing I did find is when I insulated my fireplace I could run my blower at lower speeds and still get the same heat output.

Sully have you insulated yours yet?

 

[Sully]

I have not made the official block plate but I've stuffed a ton of roxul above it, around it

 

[Sully]

I usually don't run it on high. low setting seems pretty good to me. Quiet and distributes heat

 

[mellow]

Im talking about insulating the fireplace not a block off plate, is this an exterior chimney?

 

[Sully]

Yes it is an exterior chimney. I have roxul all around the stove.

 

[AnalogKid]

Only time my blower isn't full on high is when I am sitting by it watching a movie or if I'm letting the coals burn down below 350 and don't want to cool the unit too much.

I don't understand not running a blower (besides my scenarios above). The object is to heat your room right? Who cares about the firebox temp as long as it stays warm enough to burn correctly. The heat exchanger works by air flow, and the greater the flow and temperature difference the better it works. Some inserts it might not make as big of difference if they throw off a lot of radiant heat, mine is flush and without the blower the room is not going to stay warm.

If I ran my blower at "full on high", my living room would literally be into 90+ degrees in short order.

 

[mellow]

Ahh ok, when you get a chance I would attach some Micore or Durock to the back of the fireplace, you will notice a difference.

 

[Grisu]

I am probably in the minority here as I don't run the blower most of the time. I turn it on when the insert is above 500 F stovetop temp and turn it off between 1 to 2 hours later when the peak burn is over. The main reason to run it at all is to avoid an overfire plus it heats up the room a bit faster. Otherwise, I enjoy the silence and the power savings. Two things working in my favor: My insert convects air well without blower and I have an interior fireplace. Any heat "stuck" in there will warm up the masonry and be released over time.